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Sunday, October 30, 2016

Israel/Palestine: Massacres, BDS, and more.

Mazin Qumsiyeh

I just returned to Palestine from the Basque Country, a European country that is partly under French and partly under Spanish rule (sort of like the Kurdish region). It was great to see the mountains and to see open roads without checkpoints (it was not always like this as the fight for Basque independence meant much similar conditions just a few years ago before political agreements were reached). I return willingly to a jailed community under an apartheid system and daily assaults (home demolitions, displacement, judaization). It is exactly where we find ourselves most needed and most alive. The staff and volunteers at the Palestine Museum of Natural History - Bethlehem University (http://palestinenature.org) have done an excellent job in my absence of one week. My luggage hopefully will catch up with me and it has many books I acquired for the museum. Please join us and help (donating time and/or money would be good). Now for some collected items related to human rights:

Today is the anniversary of Duwaima massacre (29 Octber 1948), one of over 40 massacres committed by the Zionist colonial forces to drive native Palestinians out of our country. I recommend the book by Ilan Pappe “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” for those who want to know more. And here is Sam Bahour reflecting on another massacre: One almighty military order and 49 dead Palestinians http://972mag.com/one-almighty-military-order-and-49-dead-palestinians/122881/

EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, affirms the right to BDS. The EU governments have still to bow to public pressure and obey their own laws which is not to do business with countries that persistently violate human rights. To show you a glimpse of the Israeli response to BDS, here are two wikileaks secret documents related to the issue from Stuart Eisenstadt a Jewish Zionist lawyer who dedicated his life to supporting Israeli government racism and apartheid policies.